EDF has announced the first nuclear reactor for Somerset's Hinkley Point C power plant has been completed and is ready for delivery.
The French-built “reactor pressure vessel” - the first constructed for a British power station in more than 30 years - is a high-strength steel cylinder that contains the nuclear fuel and the chain reaction needed to make heat.
The heat is used to create high-pressure steam for the world’s largest turbines. Nuclear engineering firm Framatome, which also built the UK’s last nuclear reactor for the Sizewell B plant in Suffolk, has spent 80,000 engineering hours on its construction.
The reactor, which is 13m long and weighs 500 tonnes, is the first of two at Hinkley Point C being developed to help power around three million homes. They are designed to run continuously for 18 months at a time between refuelling.
Earlier this week the final 11.6-metre prefabricated steel ring was lifted onto the building which will house the reactor by the "world's largest" crane, known as 'Big Carl' on the site near Bridgwater.
EDF said the completion of the first reactor marked “a major milestone” in Hinkley Point C’s construction. One of the largest building projects in Europe, the French energy giant claims the plant will be able to generate low-carbon electricity for six million homes over 60 years.
In May, EDF delayed the plant’s planned operating start by a year and upped the build budget by £3bn, following a review. The energy company had previously estimated costs of between £22bn and £23bn. Full construction of the plant began in 2016, when it was originally calculated to cost £18bn.
EDF is also set to build the Sizewell C station, which will replicate the design of Hinkley Point C. The project was recently approved by the government and will receive £700m of public funding.
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